SICILY, Segesta. Circa 400 BC. AR Tetradrachm (16.96 gm). Egestes(?) in
 galloping quadriga right, holding three grain ears in right hand, reins
 in left; Nike flying above crowning her, [S]EGE-STAXIA and a grasshopper
 in exergue / [EGESTAIWN], the hero Egestes nude right, with cap slung
 over shoulder and chlamys over left arm, resting left foot on rock; two
 hounds at his feet with one sniffing the ground; small ithyphallic herm
 before. Rizzo pl. lxii, 16 (same dies); SNG Lockett 855 (same dies); SNG
 Lloyd 1199 (same dies); Leo Mildenberg, "Kimon in the Manner of Segesta",
 in Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Numismatics, 23 (same
 dies). Nicely toned EF. Rare. ($12,500) Segesta was the principal city of
 the Elymi in north-west Sicily. The Segestans wrote their Elymian
 language in Greek characters, as witnessed by their coins. They developed
 a traditional hostility with Selinos, in the pursuit of which they allied
 themselves with Athens in 418/7(Thuc. 6. 6-8 and 46). In 409 Carthage
 achieved what Athens had not: Selinos was sacked, but Segesta passed into
 the Carthaginian sphere of influence. Although the most common
 denomination at Segesta was the didrachm, a few very rare and extremely
 accomplished tetradrachms were minted in about 400 with a remarkably
 detailed representation of a young huntsman. Numismatists have
 traditionally identified this young man as Egestes, the legendary founder
 of the city, son of the Trojan maiden Segesta by the river Krimsos. It is
 more probable that the hunter is Krimsos or even Pan, god of the hunt.

Triton V Sale, 16 Jan 2002, lot 1201.


Lot was unsold.